LONDON — It was Saturday afternoon at Wimbledon, and Serena Williams, Olympic gold medal already around her neck, spotted Bob and Mike Bryan heading for their final on Centre Court.
“She said, ‘Guys, come on!’ ” Bob Bryan said. “And she gave me like a fist and this really tough face, and I thought, ‘We have to adopt that persona.’ ”It was a fine model to follow.
Williams, who has dominated many a tournament in her remarkable emotional roller coaster of a career, has perhaps never been more dominant than she was in singles at these Olympics.
“I honestly don’t think I have ever played better from start to finish,” she said.
In six matches, she did not come close to losing a set and came very close to not losing a game in the final against Maria Sharapova, a four-time Grand Slam singles champion and former world No. 1 who is one of the most ferocious competitors and most aggressive baseliners in the women’s game.
Sharapova, representing Russia in her first Olympics, shrieked and hustled. She maintained her focus and her composure, but Williams was simply in a different league.
Her 6-0, 6-1 victory required just 1 hour 3 minutes.
“One of the most dominating performances in the history of the sport,” said Jay Berger, the men’s tennis coach of the United States Olympic team. “She just showed she’s the best player in the world right now.”
The rankings still do not confirm that. Victoria Azarenka, who won the bronze medal here, will still be No. 1 and Sharapova still No. 2 come Monday, but Williams, who will be No. 4, has taken full advantage of the historic opportunity to play for big titles twice on the grass of the All England Club this summer.
After winning Wimbledon last month, she capitalized on her return visit to win her first Olympic singles gold medal. Williams had already won gold medals in doubles in 2000 and 2008, but at age 30, she now has the last major singles prize she lacked.
“I love bling-bling but this is like the ultimate,” Williams said, fingering her gold medal.
Williams withdrew from the 2004 Olympics because of a left knee injury. She was beaten in the singles quarterfinals in 2008 in Beijing. But she was an unstoppable force here: losing an astonishing 17 games in six matches and never being pushed beyond 6-3 in any set.
“Basically, she took the momentum from Wimbledon and improved on it,” said Patrick Mouratoglou, the French coach who began advising Williams after her shocking first-round defeat at the French Open in May.
Since then, she has not lost a match, winning Wimbledon, flying to the West Coast to win in Stanford, Calif., then returning to Europe to win the Olympics.
For a star who has often played sparingly during her career, this was working overtime, but it worked beautifully — jet lag or no jet lag — for Williams.
“Look, she playing incredibly confident tennis,” said Sharapova, who has lost eight consecutive matches to Williams. “After winning Wimbledon, you’ve seen her level progress so much here over this tournament. With every match she’s played, she’s playing better, hitting harder, so much power on the ball. Even against the wind today, her shots were very powerful. I mean, she’s done an incredible job of keeping that up.”
At one stage late in the first set, Williams had as many aces as Sharapova did points. In the end, she finished with 10 aces and 24 total winners and — most remarkable of all for those who have followed Williams’s first-strike tactics over the years — just seven unforced errors.
And yet it was not quite a perfect occasion. During the medal ceremony, as a recording of the national anthem of the United States was played, the flag of the United States broke loose from its horizontal pole in the gusting wind and unceremoniously floated to the ground, landing behind the fence separating the clubhouse from the court.
The other two flags — those of Russia and Belarus — remained affixed to their poles as the ceremony concluded. Williams kept her composure and later explained that the incident had not spoiled her long-awaited moment.
But there was a second chance to get the ceremony just right — Star Spangled Banner and flag included — after the Bryans followed Williams’s lead and defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra of France in the men’s doubles final.
Their 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory gave them, at age 34, their first Olympic gold medal after winning all of the other major titles in tennis, including the Davis Cup with the United States in 2007.
“This is the top of the mountain for us,” Bob Bryan said. “Winning Wimbledon was awesome, but this is a different level.”
